I’ve been staying out of this insanity, but I wanted to vote in ntucker’s poll.
sNUgglypuPPy
Oh well, while I’m here:
matt_mcl and Green Bean have really already said pretty much everything I would say about Rule #2. I started lurking in high school, around 2000 or so, so I’ve seen a lot of history but haven’t participated. It’s to be expected that things change, and I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of reading stories, rants, and debates over the years, but I think that the changes of the past few months are a sign that it’s heading in a different direction. End of an era, kind of sad. Whatever. I probably wouldn’t even bother voting or posting if the dismissive condescension hadn’t finally gotten on my last nerve.
People aren’t just throwing tantrums because they can’t call each other “cunts” any more. And yes, if that’s really what you’re getting from these complaints, Ed, you come across as either condescending, dismissive, or both. It’s the principle. We think that the tone wasn’t that bad before, and we’ve been around for years contributing to the community and consuming the service you provide. If someone got out of line, or if someone was horribly “abusive” in the past, they were dealt with by the person insulted, by the mods, and by everyone else posting to the BBQ Pit thread. We are the community you are trying to raise the tone of. It’s not like you just started a message board and laid down these rules from the get-go. Many members feel that this rule will change the community that they have been a part of for years, and they don’t like that.
Yes, it’s your property. Yes, you can do with it what you will, and we can go pound sand. The tone I’m getting from the admins who back this change is that they are under the impression that this is analogous to, say, a guest coming over to your house and lighting up a cigarette without asking. Eventually, when the guest lights another, you tell them not to do it any more because you’ve reached the end of your patience. It seems to me that it’s more like my landlord told me I had to take down my red curtains because he thinks they’re trashy, and added a new clause to my lease that I could only have white plastic blinds–and if I don’t sign the new clause, well, I go somewhere else.
Rule #1 is great, by the way, and long overdue, IMO.
Rule #5 is kind of pointless.